


Exsanguinate

by carrionkings



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:43:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4451675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carrionkings/pseuds/carrionkings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a note, a secret meeting, and suddenly hawke and co are in over their heads once again. some more so than others</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hhhh i'm so sorry i haven't written anything in a while and that this segment is so short. it's been... a very difficult few months. trying to write again, though! a new chapter of Keeping Up Appearances as well as an update for this one should be up by saturday

The whole affair was suspicious. A simple note, unsigned and unaddressed, delivered to Bodahn by a man no one could remember, despite having walked through Hightown at midday. Jericho didn't recognize the handwriting on the scrap of parchment, but the message was clear enough.

“Someone sent you a warning about a meeting of blood mages in Darktown?” Fenris' voice was tinged with half concealed worry. “Why? And why are you going?”

“Well, someone has to crash the party!” Isabela laughed, checking her daggers once more. It was a lengthy process, since she had at least three on her person at any given time. “At least he invited us to go along with him this time. We all know _you'll_ watch his ass,” she added with a grin. Fenris' frown deepened, but he said nothing.

“If there's even the possibility of it being true, we need to get to the bottom of it.” Jericho said, disguising his wince at Isabela's comment as a shrug. He wished she wouldn't press on a wound that still felt as fresh as it had years ago. “Besides, if we were to report this to the guard, someone would just hire me to take care of the problem anyway.”

“It's probably a trap.”

Varric rolled his eyes. “Of course it's a trap, elf. The real question is whether or not blood mages are actually involved.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i always play on hard or nightmare, so jericho dies a lot. like all the time.

Blood magic had certainly been involved. Jericho felt the presence of it before they'd even made it to the sewers. It started as insistent tug at his heart and mind, making his vision go red at the edges. As always, it made him feel nauseated and unclean. The faint echoes of violence done and lives lost came to him as the Fade pressed heavily against the Veil. 

Jericho told himself that it was different from the magic he wielded. His was a primal force, drawn from the blood in his veins and the lingering traces of the newly dead. He didn't raise the fallen or ravage the minds of the living. 

It was different. 

_He_ was different. 

“The Veil is thin here,” he said. “I fear our anonymous source was right after all.”

The words had barely left his lips when the first corpse clawed its way out of the ground, stiff joints clicking as it stood. Fenris was first to act, crossing the distance in a moment, not even bothering to activate his lyrium tattoos before smashing the creature back down. A well placed crossbow bolt shattered its misshapen skull and it lay still once more. Isabela swore and wrenched her leg away from a skeletal hand that had thrust from the earth at her feet. In the space of a few minutes, there were at least a dozen reanimated bodies lurching towards the group like badly strung puppets. Jericho noted with alarm that some of these bodies were fresh; the woman approaching with rusty sickle held high looked almost alive despite the gaping wound across her throat. Whomever - or whatever - had killed these people and raised the dead had to be close by. 

Varric shouted something, but Jericho didn't need the dwarf's warning to know what was behind him. He'd felt the atmosphere shift and turned to see a massive skeleton in plate mail emerge from the shadows. Its eyeless sockets blazed with arcane fire and it shrieked, lashing out with terrible force. Sparks flew as its sword cleaved through the barrier the mage had erected. Jericho staggered back, icicles stabbing up from the floor as he retreated. The creature advanced, ignoring the razors of ice that tore at its legs. 

He gritted his teeth and reached for the Fade. There was no time for anything elaborate – he was simply too close. Flames had just begun to collect at his fingertips when the revenant stopped its relentless advance and _howled_. 

The sound struck like a physical blow, making Jericho first lose his concentration and then his balance. Concussed and already unsteady from the assault before, he fell hard against the wall. He hadn't realized he'd backed up quite so far; even if he hadn't been stunned, he might have simply cornered himself. 

With another howl that he felt in his very marrow, the revenant swung its sword high. 

A thrown dagger sank into the undead's shoulder, locking it in place for a moment. The sword stroke went wide and Jericho ducked under it, pushing away from the wall to a more defensible position. 

“You owe me, sweetheart,” Isabela called as she pulled yet another blade from her belt. “I don't toss away my good daggers for just anyone.” 

Jericho couldn't even begin to reply before he had to sidestep yet another incoming strike. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the lethal chill of a Fereldan winter night condensing in the palm of his hand. He threw the spell forward with a flick of his wrist, freezing the revenant solid in an instant. Fenris appeared at his side as if summoned, leaping into the air and bringing his heavy blade down in a shower of sparks, ice chips, and lyrium afterimages. The greater undead’s shield fell with a resounding clang, the arm still attached. 

“Back it up, you two!” 

Varric took careful aim and fired. Jericho had just enough time to raise another barrier before the explosive shot punched through plate mail and desiccated flesh alike, sending shrapnel and bone fragments everywhere. Ice cracked and fell away as the creature staggered back, nearly collapsing to the ground. Isabela danced around it, daggers and earrings flashing, trying to trip it as it struggled to regain its balance.

It staggered again, stabbing the point of its sword into the ground near its feet as if to gain a foothold. Isabela leaped back as it released the hilt and grabbed for her, bone poking through the fingertips like claws. The revenant hissed in an almost human display of annoyance as its prey escaped, then turned its empty stare on Jericho.

Distracted by the fire spell he'd been weaving, Jericho caught on to the undead's intentions one second too late. He felt himself seized by the throat and dragged forward, even though he stood at least sixty paces away. There flash of steel, a savage, blinding pain, and then nothing.


End file.
